The veteran nitromethane pilot used one of the best reaction times of the
opening round of Funny Car eliminations (.081 of-a-second) to drive his
Skoal Racing Monte Carlo to an early lead over opponent and No. 2
qualifier Eric Medlen before Johnson's flopper lost traction and
slowed to a pass of 5.597 seconds at 187.18 mph. Medlen cruised to a run
of 4.901 at 314.39 to earn the trip to the second round of eliminations.
Johnson remains fifth in the NHRA Funny Car standings.

"I didn't see him for a long time," Johnson said. "I
didn't realize that it was that big of a holeshot. It's
frustrating when you have that big of a lead and can't capitalize on
it. We could have run a 4.98 and won."

"This was just a frustrating weekend for us. We struggled during
qualifying and that got us behind. Every team suffers a tough weekend
like this during the year. We just need to buckle down and make sure that
it doesn't happen again because we want to stay in the hunt."

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 24th annual Lucas
Oil Nationals, August 11-14, at Brainerd International Raceway in
Brainerd, Minn.